It is well-known to employ glass fibers in composite articles to strengthen and reinforce same. Glass fibers are most generally placed into a plastic or polymer matrix where the high tensile strength glass fibers cause the deformable or elastic matrix to become more rigid.
Glass fibers are often used to stabilize laminar structures. For example, a resin-impregnated glass fiber mat is often used to stiffen composite layers of a molded automotive vehicle headliner, so that it will not sag due to the effect of gravity over the life of the vehicle. Glass fibers can also be added to laminar structures by sprinkling chopped fibers onto one of the laminae, then placing the next layer thereover and laminating the assemblage together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,538 to Tamura et al. discloses apparatus for sprinkling a resin composition onto a web, and a sheet material produced by said apparatus. A liquid resin composition is mixed uniformly with glass fibers and sprinkled onto a polyethylene film. A second film of polyethylene is superposed over the resin and glass fiber mixture, and the assemblage is pressed and partially cured, to form an SMC or BMC sheet.
It would be desirable to prepare a polymer sheet material having glass fibers substantially encapsulated therein, for use in preparing laminar composite molded articles which require the dimensional stability and stiffness afforded by such fibers.